The boat, expected to set sail by the end of this year
(2017), also aims to carry out substantial research of the fast-eroding Majuli,
once the world’s largest riverine island famous for its biodiversity and as a
seat of culture and Vaishnav religion. The island has shrunk to almost half of
its original 1200-odd square kilometres area in the past few decades following
large scale erosion.

Work on the boat lab – a refurbished trawl – will start by
the end of 2017. The blueprint of the floating lab is being put together by
scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Apart from the laboratory,
the boat is expected to house a cold storage facility for samples, a fleet of
satellite boats or rafts and one floor dedicated to outreach and education for local
people.

IIT Guwahati scientists, who are part of the ambitious project,
say it would be ‘challenging as well as exciting’ to research the hydrology,
water quality, biodiversity and the associated ecosystems of Bramhaputra, one among
the longest rivers of the world.

The announcement for the boat lab was made by
India’s science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan alongside a host of other
programmes for the north eastern states such as Rs. 50-crore phyto-pharma plant
mission to conserve medicinal plants; and distribution of a frugal microscope
‘Foldscope’ in schools and colleges of the region.

Department of Biotechnology secretary Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan
said that the project would make for constant monitoring of environmental and
anthropological factors affecting the river and its hydrology, water quality
and biodiversity. These, he said, have not been studied well enough despite the
massive expanse of the nearly 3,800 kms long Bramhaputra, that meanders past three
countries – China, India and Bangladesh – to reach the Bay of Bengal.